Matt Donovan
Matthew G. "Matt" Donovan is the ex-boyfriend of Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert, brother of Vicki Donovan, and a medium. After the death of Elena's parents, Elena broke up with Matt due to needing some time alone to deal with all the things that had happened, although Matt still cares about Elena deeply. Throughout the series, Caroline and Matt begin dating, of whom he encourages to become a more caring, kind, and selfless young woman. Matt is a member of the Donovan Family. Early History Matt was born in Mystic Falls to Kelly Donovan and an unnamed father. He had an older sister, Vicki Donovan. Because Kelly and Miranda Gilbert, Elena's adoptive mother, were best friends since high school, Matt knew Elena Gilbert since infancy. They grew up together being really close childhood friends and began dating in their early teens, feeling they owed it to themselves to try. When Elena's parents died, she broke up with Matt because she needed time alone to figure out her feelings. Matt still hoped they could be together, but it was not likely to happen due to Elena's instant connection to the new student, Stefan. Season One through Three |-|Season One= for the first time.]] At the start of a new school year, Matt saw that Elena was strongly drawn to the handsome, mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore. He was jealous as he believed that he and Elena still had a chance to be together later on. When his sister Vicki was attacked, he saw Stefan at the hospital but he mysteriously disappeared. Matt remained suspicious of him. Matt started to warm up to Stefan a little more when he joined the football team at school. Matt was also grateful when Stefan found Vicki and she disappeared (when it was Damon Salvatore who took her. Matt still showed he had feelings for Elena and Bonnie tried to help him move on. Not long afterwards, Vicki went missing again. Along with search-parties, Matt tried to find her and was relieved when Jeremy Gilbert called him over to his house where Vicki was, where she was transitioning into a vampire. When she became a vampire, Stefan tried to help her, but when Vicki said he was bothering her, Matt told him to leave her alone. , at the hospital.]] When she disappeared again, Matt was questioned by Sheriff Forbes of her supposed whereabouts, but like everyone else, he had no clue where she had gone. He found a note at his house "written" by Vicki that said she left town. At Caroline's party, Stefan explained to Matt that he was just trying to help his sister, but Matt told him Vicki was unreliable like her mother. Later, Caroline turned up drunk because she was heart-broken by something Damon had told her. Matt tried to cheer her up and eventually had to take her home. She did not want to be alone, so he had to spend the night with her, in her bedroom cuddling together. telling Matt he's trying to help his sister]] Matt started working at the Mystic Grill. Caroline talked about a washed-out football player, Ben, and how he is working as a bartender. Matt was offended by this and Caroline left, saying that they didn't give each other a chance. Matt caught up to her when she was crossing the road, and Matt got out of his Ute and kissed Caroline in the middle of the crossing in the spot light of his lights from the Ute. They started going out afterwards. They were caught in a heated moment by Matt's mother, who had returned home after her boyfriend left her. Kelly didn't like Caroline very much and called her "Matt's rebound girl". Caroline decided they go on a double-date with Elena and Stefan but the date went wrong for her when Matt and Elena went on about childhood memories. Stefan let Matt drive his car with Caroline but when they came back to the Salvatore Boarding House, Matt found his mom making out with Stefan's brother Damon. He was extremely upset with her, telling her that she was the adult and she should behave like one. Kelly and Matt were in for devastating news when Caroline and her mother Sheriff Forbes came with news that Vicki's body had been found in a terrible storm. Even though Caroline wanted to comfort him, Matt wanted to be left alone, but ended up crying in Elena's arms. His relationship with her mother took the final straw when he caught her making out with Tyler Lockwood. He and Tyler got into a fight which was stopped by Tyler's father Mayor Lockwood. When they got home, Matt told his mother to get out of his house because he was better of without her in his life. He did not accept her apologies. Matt was supposed to be Caroline's escort in the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, but he could not make it due to his work schedule. He was with her for the Founder's Day Parade. He left the Mystic Grill with Tyler and Caroline when Mayor Lockwood asked them to leave because he was worried for his son's safety. When Tyler heard an unpleasant and painful noise, he sent the car off the road. All three passengers survived but Caroline had to be taken to the hospital for surgery. Her injuries were severe, and Matt, Tyler and her mother wait for any news of her. |-|Season Two= Matt stayed at the hospital to await 's results from the accident. After a visit from , Caroline started to get better quickly, much to Matt and 's great relief. Unknowingly to him, Damon had given Caroline blood to help her heal, but when killed her, Caroline became a vampire after drinking blood she found in the hospital. Matt visited her in the hospital, where he found her unhappy. He pulled back the curtains to bring light into the room, put Caroline ran to the shadows. He didn't understand what was happening and left. At the carnival, Caroline told Matt she had been discharged early. He was happy about that when he gave her a hug, she began to act strange again, and he started to believed she was losing interest. He sneaked into her room to talk to her about how she was acting and he admitted that he was in love with her, and was afraid she didn't love him anymore but she proved him wrong by kissing him. They hugged and Caroline was able to resist the urge to bite him. Caroline's inability to go out in the sun put a strain on her relationship with Matt. Stefan convinced Bonnie to help her by creating another Lapis Lazuli jewelry piece. Aimee Bradley started flirting with Matt, annoying Caroline and she compelled her to go away and Matt thought she was being rude. Later on, Caroline asked Matt if he was mad at her and he admitted that he thought they were past her insecurities. He told her how he felt about her and asked what more she needed. Caroline promised that she didn't need anything else and apologized, promising that there will be no more drama. They kissed and headed off into the woods together. They started making out but when Matt cut himself, Caroline lost control and attacked him. Stefan stopped her as a wolf attacked them, but at Tyler's arrival, it left. Caroline then compelled Matt to forget what she did and that an animal attacked him. At the Mystic Grill, Aimee started talking to Matt again. Caroline decided to break up with Matt and made a big deal out of it, forcing him to break up with her. Matt helped out at the Lockwood Mansion for the Masquerade Ball, and discussed with Caroline's strange behavior with Tyler. Later on, is shown compelling Matt to have Tyler kill him at any cost because she needed a werewolf now that had killed . Matt almost breaks a fight with Tyler at the masquerade ball, but Caroline knocks him unconscious before he has the chance to make Tyler kill him. Though he was stopped, another girl, Sara, who was also compelled, attacked Tyler after his failure and died in the process, thus activating his transformation. Afterwards, he is guilt stricken by what happened, with no memory of being compelled to do so, and apologizes to Tyler. He later drops by Caroline's house to visit her. In The House Guest, Caroline sings to Matt and he kisses her into front of everyone in the Grill. They start making out in the bathroom, but are interrupted by the chaos caused by Jonas Martin. Caroline tries to fight him, but Jonas used his powers on her, Matt tried to save her, and Jonas stabbed him in the neck. As he was lying on the floor dying, Caroline gives him her blood to save him. After he wakes up, Caroline confesses to him that she is a vampire. Matt then remembers Vicki saying something about vampires when she had her accident and thinks that Caroline had something to do with it. In Know Thy Enemy, Matt stays away from Caroline, he meets Sheriff Forbes and demands on how she covered up Vicki's death by the hands of a vampire.Now he came to Caroline house.He demands that she tell him what happened to Vicki and everything about her. After Caroline has told him everything, he tells her that he doesn't want to remember any of it because he doesn't want to look at her and see what she really is. After she compels him it was later revealed to be a setup by Sheriff Forbes to find out the information that Caroline knew of everything on vampires in town. Matt takes Caroline to the 60s Decade Dance under Sheriff Forbes orders,he is still having a hard time being around Caroline due to the fact that he still knows that she is a vampire as well as Tyler being a werewolf. In The Last Day, Matt once again is talking with Sheriff Forbes. He later seems to have a change of heart and calls Caroline supposedly to tell her everything and then follows Damon. He finds Damon at the Tomb and sees him fight with the warlock Maddox. As Damon is losing, Matt kills Maddox using a rifle and wooden bullets afterwards Damon knocks him out. After he wakes up he witness Tyler werewolf transformation and runs with Caroline down in the Lockwood cellar. In The Sun Also Rises, while protecting themselves from Tyler, he and Caroline had an honest talk about what happened. Matt tells her he can't handle the pressure of her supernatural life and just wants to be normal, Caroline is sad but agrees and they officially end their relationship. |-|Season Three= Matt is still working at the Mystic Grill, only this time with Jeremy. He was having a hard time seeing Caroline and Tyler together. He even asks Jeremy to switch waiting tables with him yelling out: "I don't feel like waiting on my ex-girlfriend". He later attends Elena's 18th birthday party and is seen smoking along with Jeremy. Later, he gets a ride with Jeremy to his house where Jeremy suddenly tells him that he can see Vicki. In The Hybrid, he is asking Jeremy more questions about Vicki and admits that he can't remember much when she was a vampire, and that he never got a chance to say goodbye. At first, Matt finds it to hard going through Vicki's things in his garage to try to contact with Jeremy. He gets overwhelmed and tells Jeremy that he can't do it, after seeing a picture of him and Vicki as kids. After Jeremy leaves, the picture flips from face-down to face-up. He believed Jeremy after that, thinking it was a sign, so he goes back to Jeremy's and tries to help. In The Reckoning, Matt is seen working out at the gym when he goes into a classroom where the gang is planing what to do for Senior's Prank Night, which he forgot was in motion. Later, he is helping Bonnie in the school pool room by putting toilet paper all over. And they later go to the gym where they see Klaus, witnessing him killing Tyler. Matt goes with Bonnie to help find away for Klaus to create his hybrids and to save Tyler. They discover ghost can help them, but can't get a hold of Jeremy, so Matt's decides to take one for the team by drowning himself and hopefully communicate with his dead sister, Vicki, who has been haunting him recently. He drowns himself, and Bonnie successfully performs CPR on Matt, thus granting him the ability to talk to ghosts and becoming a medium. In Smells Like Teen Spirit, Matt is able to see Vicki now due to his near death experience. Matt talks with her and she tells him that she can come back. Later Matt performed some blood magic that allowed his sister to physically touch and hug things. Vicki used Matt because they're joined by blood. Matt loved his sister with all his heart and tried to protect her. The tender moment between brother and sister was interrupted when she bludgeoned him with a tool. When he woke, he realized the mistake he made and sought Bonnie's help Bonnie informed Matt that he's the only one keeping Vicki around, so Matt had to say goodbye. Vicki apologized, swore that she wouldn't hurt anyone if he let her stay, and cried as Matt let her go. Matt told Vicki that she shouldn't be here anymore, that he needs to let her go no matter how painful it is. In Ghost World, Matt is seen helping the town get ready for The Illumination Night. In Homecoming, Matt shows up at the Salvatore mansion to pick up Rebekah, his date, and his greeted by Elena, who nervously suggests that they go together as a couple as his back up date. Matt agrees. Later at the party he see Caroline on the floor and Tyler telling him to take her away from this place. In Our Town, he helps Elena and Bonnie to surprise Caroline but after seeing she is not in the mood for a celebration, they decide to go to a graveyard to give her a funeral instead. During the party Matt talks with Elena and he discover she feels stuck and doesn't want to lose anyone else she loves. Later Matt and Elena go look for Caroline in the woods and Matt gets knocked out by Stefan. Matt later brings Caroline home after she has been bitten but Tyler. Klaus then comes by and Matt states that this is his fault, as Tyler would have never done such a thing to Caroline. He then meets Elena at Wickery Bridge. In'' Bringing Out The Dead, Matt is seen comforting Caroline about her father dying, later he walks Elena home where they both find Alaric half dead and Elena explains to Matt why she needs to kill him. After Matt stays with Elena until Alaric comes back to life. He is seen with Elena and then he drives home. At the Grill, he was approached by Rebekah, wanting him to be her dancing partner which he accepted. During the ball he danced with Rebekah and Caroline, asking her why she is here with Klaus. As Rebekah and him are taking an timeout they went outside where he got a blanket for her. As she originally intended to kill him with the assistance of Kol to make Elena suffer, she now backs out and they go inside. Matt meets Kol inside who introduces himself and crushes his hand. At the Grill Rebekah apologies for her brother's actions but Matt leaves. In ''1912, Matt is seen running with Elena and filling her in with the situation of Bonnie's mother: Abby had decided to complete the transition and Caroline was going to help her through it. Elena then receives the news that Alaric was arrested as a suspect in the murders of Brian Walters and Bill Forbes and the attempted murder on himself. Matt later helps Elena break into Meredith Fell's apartment to find proof that she, not Alaric, was the murderer. They find her cache, where she had been hiding a box in which she has the files of each victim and an old Gilbert family journal. They also find a corner's report saying that the time of death was actually earlier than the police knew which meant that Alaric had an alibi. Meredith then arrives home and they hide in the closet but she tricks them into coming out. A furious Sheriff Forbes tells them that Meredith had already given her the corner's report and that it was being checked out and that she wanted them to go home and stay out of trouble. As Elena and Matt are going home, they stumble across Damon with Stefan feeding on a young woman. Matt takes Elena away and questions her on her feelings for both the Salvatores. She reveals that she fell for Stefan because, after her parents' death, she felt like he would never leave, like he would never die. As for Damon, she says that he snuck up on her and she just can't shake him. Matt says that that is what happens when you fall in love with someone. In Heart of Darkness, Matt is busy keeping Rebekah involved in the 20's Decade Dance preparations so that Caroline gets a day off to meet Tyler. He gives Rebekah a ride back to Klaus' Mansion. In Do Not Go Gentle, Jeremy and Matt go to rescue Elena from Alaric and Esther. In The Departed, Jeremy and him want to protect Elena, so Matt drives Elena out of town. Later, when they are driving back to Mystic Falls, Matt's drives off of Wickery Bridge in order to avoid Rebekah standing in the middle of the road. He almost dies until Stefan comes to their rescue. Stefan tries to save Elena first, but Elena insights Stefan save Matt first, resulting in her drowning. Season Four In Growing Pains, Matt feels terrible guilt for his role in Elena's death and eventual transition as a vampire, and expresses this numerous times to people like Caroline and Jeremy. He is physically attacked by Damon, who blames Matt for Elena's death, and asks him why he gets to live and Elena doesn't. Matt tells Damon that there is no one in the world who feels more guilty about what happened than he does. He later leads Damon to Pastor Young's farm house out in the country, and is used as bait to lure the pastor out of his home. When Damon bites him, Matt is able to get away and into the barn where the pastor had been holding Stefan, Elena and Rebekah hostage in order to lure their respective families into a trap meant to kill them. When Stefan heals Matt of his bite wounds, he angrily tells Stefan to stop healing him, that he doesn't deserve it. Stefan then tells him that it wasn't his choice to save him first, but that it had been Elena's choice, and that he had to prove that he was worthy of that sacrifice by getting out of bed every day and making his life mean something. In Memorial, Matt once again expresses his guilt to Jeremy, and is stunned when he and Jeremy see April Young, a girl that they used to know and go to school with. She is back in town for her father, Pastor Young's memorial service. Later at the memorial when vampire hunter, Connor Jordan comes to town and injures and holds April hostage in the Church during the service, the vampires there can smell the blood and know its a trap to kill them all. Elena, being the newest vampire, has a nearly impossible time controlling herself until Matt, feeling a sense of obligation to protect her, offers her his neck to feed on in order to satiate her thirst; she feeds and pulls back just before draining him of too much blood. In The Rager, Matt meets Elena at their old make-out spot. Elena feeds on Matt (carefully, so she doesn't kill him) but she pulls away, feeling the bloodlust taking over her. Matt is later seen at his locker, with Rebekah approaching him, inviting him to her party. Matt doesn't say anything and Rebekah tries to apologize to him for killing Elena and nearly him. Matt just walks away, but Connor stops him. The vampire hunter rips the bandage off from his wrist and sees bite marks. Then Connor forces Matt to tell him which one of his friends is a vampire, with Matt saying, "Its Rebekah. Rebekah Mikaelson." Later, Matt arrives at the Gilbert household. Matt lets Elena feed from him, but she starts drinking more. Matt tries to get Elena to stop, but she begins to feed even harder from him. Luckily, Damon intervenes and pushes Elena away from Matt. Damon then compels Matt to forget what happened and that he came over, Elena fed a little bit, and left. In The Five, Matt receives a new truck from Rebekah, as an apology. Matt says if that's her idea of an apology, she should be apologizing to Elena. Matt is later shown to be talking to April, and is surprised that she is friends with Rebekah. He says it is hard to believe Rebekah would have a friend, and says that he's keeping the truck. In The Killer, Matt, along with Jeremy and April, are held hostage at the Mystic Grill by Connor. When Matt and April are in the backroom, Matt tries to use the old wine cellar to escape from the Grill, but its bricked over. He starts to hammer at it, and Stefan, being underground, hears the noise and investigates. Matt and April hear an explosion and is startled by it. Stefan appears and tells the two to follow the map. Just before leaving, Matt warns Stefan that Connor is armed and he'll kill Jeremy. Later, Matt and April walk over to Jeremy. April, who was compelled earlier to forget about the hostage crisis, says that went over to the Lockwood's house and talked to Caroline for a bit, but now she was thinking they could all go for some coffee. They see the Mystic Grill closed and April remarks that the Grill being closed is weird. Jeremy gives April his vervain bracelet, with Matt saying it looks good on her and she should wear it. In We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes, Matt is with Jeremy at the Mystic Falls High School. Jeremy asks Matt if he can see anything on his hand (the Hunters' Mark), and he replies no. Later on in the episode, Matt shares some vital information with Damon - that April's father Pastor Young's phone records show he made a call a day to the same address for everything month, but on the day of the explosion at his farm, he called it ten times. To the office of Professor Atticus Shane. In My Brother's Keeper, Matt seems to help with the preparations for the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. There are few barrels that he and Jeremy had to grab, but Matt couldn't take them. He's amazed because Jeremy got a lot of strength after becoming a hunter. Later, Jeremy tells Matt that he has been having dreams of killing Elena. While the pageant takes place, Jeremy disappears and April is left alone, as Jeremy was planned to escort her, but Matt goes and takes Jeremy's place. At the end of the episode, Matt moves into the Gilbert house, to keep an eye on Jeremy. Relationships *Elena and Matt (Ex-girlfriend/Good friends) *Caroline and Matt (Ex-girlfriend/Good friends) *Matt and Vicki (Brother and sister) *Matt and Bonnie (Good friends) *Tyler and Matt (Best friends) *Jeremy and Matt (Good friends) *Matt and Rebekah (Enemies/Rebekah has a crush on him) *Matt and April (Good friends) Appearances Novels In the novels, Matt's surname is "Honeycutt", not "Donovan", and like the series, he is Elena's ex-boyfriend. Vicki is also not his sister in the novels. Matt Honeycutt's father is dead and his mother is only briefly mentioned and is completely dissimilar to Kelly Donovan. Name *Matt is a variation for Matthew. In the bible he was one of the twelve, a tax collector and he is credited with writing one of the gospels. From the Hebrew מַתִּתְיָהוּ ''(Mattiyahu) "Gift of Yaweh" Trivia * In the books, Matt learns that Stefan and Damon are vampires and that Elena has become a vampire and needs blood. * In the series, Matt was the second to last main character to learn about the supernatural world (before Jenna) and he is the last character to have learned this to be still alive since Jenna died one episode after. * Matt is not the brother of Vicki in the books. In the series, he takes care of Vicki and his mother. * In the books, Matt becomes Stefan's best friend, but in the series, Matt's best friend is Tyler Lockwood. * In the series, he often shortens people's names, calling Vicki "Vick", Tyler "Ty", Jeremy "Jer", Caroline "Care", and Bonnie "Bon", as well as Damon, but with nicknames. * If you count Elena's status as a doppelgänger and Jeremy's and Alaric's use of the Gilbert Rings. Matt is the last main character to have a supernatural power, which is being a medium. * Kevin Williamson commented on the character Matt, saying "There's a door there, that we will eventually open, but for now he's human" Which might possibly mean, in time he will become something. * Although Matt's feelings for Elena are a major recurring theme in the first season, they have seemed to have completely vanished to make way for his new feelings for Caroline, which become a major plotline in the second season particularly since Caroline is now a vampire. However, in the books, Matt's feelings for Elena never seem to go away and play an even stronger role since he still has feelings for her when he discovers the existence of the supernatural world. * Matt is the only main human character who destroys an Original without neutralizing it. (The Murder of One). * Possibly, according to the Sage's words "''I do not know, a lot", Matt is the human that could have destroyed most vampires in history. * In the books, he and Damon interact more often than in the TV series. * He is the only main human character to have never died of supernatural causes. * He and Jeremy are indirectly responsible for Elena becoming a vampire. Episode Count *In Season 1 Matt doesn't appear in 5 episodes: Family Ties, Bloodline, Children of the Damned, Miss Mystic Falls and Blood Brothers. *In Season 2 Matt doesn't appear in 7 episodes: Memory Lane, Kill or Be Killed, Rose, Katerina, The Dinner Party, Klaus and As I Lay Dying. *In Season 3 Matt doesn't appear in 7 episodes: The End of the Affair, Disturbing Behavior, Ordinary People, The New Deal, The Ties That Bind, All My Children and Break On Through. Tropes *Elena's former boyfriend, hasn't given up hope yet - which makes him a Dogged Nice Guy . *He is pretty much a Generic Guy , with no special qualities - except being human. *Of course, he just wants his beloved to be happy , so he forgives Elena for ditching him and tries to be friends with Stefan. *His life sucks most of the times: We don't even know if he knew his father ;his mother is an Alcoholic who left him for a boyfriend in Florida; his sister Vicki was a drug addict who got turned into a Vampire by Damon because he was bored then staked by Stefan. Ah, and Vicki came back as a ghost. She was persuaded by Esther to try and kill Elena! *Like most of the main cast, he even died once. But he got better. *By season 4 he is the only one in the cast member to remain human, so he is the Token Human , which in this case is also a Token Minority . *With April and Meredith he is part of Team Normal - the humans without powers that help the super-powered heroes. References Gallery See Also Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Donovan Family Category:Protagonists Category:Mystic Falls Residents Category:Season 3 Characters Category: Season 4 Characters Category:Humans